Nate Newton

Dallas running back Emmitt Smith is listed as doubtful for Thursday's game. There was no further examination of his bruised right quadriceps muscle, but he has extensive swelling in his leg. He is the only Cowboy listed below probable. The Cowboys played two games without Smith, when he was holding out, and lost both. Quarterback Troy Aikman practiced Monday for the first time since injuring his right hamstring Nov.7 against the New York Giants. Aikman is expected to play. Left guard Nate Newton left Sunday's game against Atlanta with a sore right knee.

Be thankful you didn't have Thanksgiving dinner at Nate Newton's house. The Carolina Panthers' guard may have eaten you. Newton said that for Thanksgiving, "I don't see my mother-in-law as my mother-in-law. When I see her, I look at her as gumbo. I look at my mom as collard greens. I look at my wife as fried chicken, my favorite dish. "You know how you have a server platter? Eat off of that [not plates]. Plates are like six or seven inches. I'm looking for 12 inches around." Newton, nicknamed "The Kitchen" during his days with the Dallas Cowboys, is listed at 318 pounds by The Sporting News.

Be thankful you didn't have Thanksgiving dinner at Nate Newton's house. The Carolina Panthers' guard may have eaten you. Newton said that for Thanksgiving, "I don't see my mother-in-law as my mother-in-law. When I see her, I look at her as gumbo. I look at my mom as collard greens. I look at my wife as fried chicken, my favorite dish. "You know how you have a server platter? Eat off of that [not plates]. Plates are like six or seven inches. I'm looking for 12 inches around." Newton, nicknamed "The Kitchen" during his days with the Dallas Cowboys, is listed at 318 pounds by The Sporting News.

Five years and 10 months have passed since Jimmy Johnson last coached a game at Texas Stadium -- a smart, decisive victory over the San Francisco 49ers that ended a bluster-filled week in which Johnson threw down some Heinekens on a cool Thursday night, phoned a local radio station and brashly predicted he'd win the NFC championship. How long it has been since Johnson stalked a sideline here and how much things have changed. Not so much for him as for Dallas. Johnson won't be altered. Not by a wedding ring nor by the beaches of South Florida.

Nate Newton eats nothing. Kenneth Gant eats what he cryptically refers to as "a Stubbs."And Bill Bates? He eats something with a name that looks like the latest import: Met-Rx. If breakfast truly does make a champion, then this is one weird way to win a Super Bowl. The Wheaties folks were the ones who popularized this whole thing - the idea that if you begin the morning with a well-balanced, nutritious meal, then you're on track for a high-performance day, maybe even a good week, perhaps even - yes!

Long after it was over, Dallas wide receiver Michael Irvin was talking with Miami Heat point guard Tim Hardaway, recounting the ease with which he had gone through the Dolphins' defense. It was appropriate. The way the Cowboys played, this was like one of those lopsided playground hoop games and Irvin was cherry picking. His 186 yards on 12 catches led the way to a 29-10 victory over the Dolphins Sunday at Pro Player Stadium. For the first time this season the Dolphins were beaten by more than a touchdown.

Yes, the Cowboys game is personal. Dern right it's personal. And the men who have been down this payback road with Jimmy Johnson say J.J. will be letting the Dolphins know in team meetings this week just how personal it is. "One thing about Jimmy. He's always straight with the players. He never lied to us. If he wanted some special [expletive), he'd get it started," Cowboys guard Nate Newton said Monday. Newton said there were a handful of games - big games - in the five years Johnson coached Dallas in which he found a way to let his players know when a game meant more to him than just another W or another step through the playoffs.

They're a frightful sight pulling on a sweep - guards Nate Newton and Larry Allen, each packing about 320 pounds, thundering ahead of Emmitt Smith like a pair of turbocharged 20-wheelers. It's pumpkin time for Cinderella. Smith and Newton, Allen and the rest of this peerless, oversized Cowboys line is the difference in today's NFC Championship Game. The Green Bay Packers, who have had a nice little playoff sprint through the Atlanta Falcons and San Francisco 49ers, turning millions across America into Cheesehead wannabes, are about to get run over.

Once again, the NFC Championship stage is set for high drama, but Dallas-San Francisco, Act III, could be lacking a leading man. A hamstring, a hamstring, Emmitt's kingdom for a hamstring. Emmitt Smith's left leg is hurting and without him, Dallas' chances against the 49ers are, uh ... well, hamstrung. Dallas has beaten San Francisco in the past two NFC title games, once at Candlestick Park, but both times they had a healthy Smith. In those two games, Smith had four touchdowns (two receiving, two rushing)

In the commercial, Deion Sanders is asked whether he wants to play offense or defense and says, "Both," and if he wants $15 million or $20 million and says, "Both." So it was no wonder which end the game-tilting reverse to Sanders went around Sunday in the Dallas Cowboys' 30-11 playoff victory against Philadelphia at Texas Stadium: Both. But the Cowboys were full of double dangers Sunday in what coach Barry Switzer called their most complete win of the season: They got needed input from running back Emmitt Smith (99 yards rushing)

It all sounded so simple and promising when Jimmy Johnson took the reins nearly 20 months ago as Dolphins coach. The man who developed a dominating running game in Dallas talked about turning the finesse Dolphins into a grittier team. "We're going to run the football, period," Johnson said on Jan. 11, 1996. Out would be the 40-pass games that put Dan Marino at the top of every NFL record and waiting offstage for a championship. In would be a mirror of Johnson's Dallas offensive line and some ghosts of the Dolphin lines that led the franchise to two titles in the '70s.

Dallas Cowboys coach Barry Switzer, reaching for some earthy language Wednesday, told reporters he isn't taking any criticism for any of his players problems with the law. "If I'm part of the overall spectrum ... that people want to think it comes from the top on down ... then they're full of [bleep)," Switzer bristled. "Because everyone is responsible for their own behavior and their own actions. "You make your choices, good or bad. And it damn sure ain't going to be whether your momma or your daddy had an influence on it, or your coach, or the director of your program, or your general manager, or whoever.

Long after it was over, Dallas wide receiver Michael Irvin was talking with Miami Heat point guard Tim Hardaway, recounting the ease with which he had gone through the Dolphins' defense. It was appropriate. The way the Cowboys played, this was like one of those lopsided playground hoop games and Irvin was cherry picking. His 186 yards on 12 catches led the way to a 29-10 victory over the Dolphins Sunday at Pro Player Stadium. For the first time this season the Dolphins were beaten by more than a touchdown.

Center Ray Donaldson plops onto his locker room stool like a man who can't wait to get off his feet. Tackle Mark Tuinei is walking around with a limp that might keep him out of Sunday's game against the Dolphins. The rest of the Dallas Cowboys' herd of offensive linemen look OK - outwardly. But the world knows and the statistics reflect a lot of pain, physical and emotional. Ironically, only The Fat Man, guard Nate Newton, is devoid of injury. A reporter asks his weight and he wraps one of those mammoth mitts around his questioner's shoulder.

Yes, the Cowboys game is personal. Dern right it's personal. And the men who have been down this payback road with Jimmy Johnson say J.J. will be letting the Dolphins know in team meetings this week just how personal it is. "One thing about Jimmy. He's always straight with the players. He never lied to us. If he wanted some special [expletive), he'd get it started," Cowboys guard Nate Newton said Monday. Newton said there were a handful of games - big games - in the five years Johnson coached Dallas in which he found a way to let his players know when a game meant more to him than just another W or another step through the playoffs.

The gleaming white super-stretch limo pulled up in front of the Dallas Cowboys' hotel late Monday. One of the doors swung open - wide - and out stepped the supple body of Nate Newton. Supple? Yeah, corpulent. Corpulent? Yeah, prodigious. And not just a limo. This limo was driven 900 miles from Big D by Newt's regular man so he and his party-time teammates could fiddle around Phoenix in style. And it wasn't the only limo ordered by America's Team. They brought the whole fleet of seven because, after all, with players the size of Newton, 345 pounds, you couldn't exactly fit a Little League team in there.

Center Ray Donaldson plops onto his locker room stool like a man who can't wait to get off his feet. Tackle Mark Tuinei is walking around with a limp that might keep him out of Sunday's game against the Dolphins. The rest of the Dallas Cowboys' herd of offensive linemen look OK - outwardly. But the world knows and the statistics reflect a lot of pain, physical and emotional. Ironically, only The Fat Man, guard Nate Newton, is devoid of injury. A reporter asks his weight and he wraps one of those mammoth mitts around his questioner's shoulder.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Kevin Sweeney 21, New York Giants 3. Let the record show that the Dallas Cowboys began a new season, and possibly a new era, with 14:05 remaining in the third quarter Sunday. With the Cowboys trailing the New York Giants 26-0, coach Tom Landry yanked struggling starting quarterback Steve Pelluer and went with Sweeney, the People`s Choice among Cowboys fans. Sweeney proceeded to sprinkle magic dust all over the Meadowlands, scrambling, gunning and improvising the Cowboys to three second-half touchdowns.

They're a frightful sight pulling on a sweep - guards Nate Newton and Larry Allen, each packing about 320 pounds, thundering ahead of Emmitt Smith like a pair of turbocharged 20-wheelers. It's pumpkin time for Cinderella. Smith and Newton, Allen and the rest of this peerless, oversized Cowboys line is the difference in today's NFC Championship Game. The Green Bay Packers, who have had a nice little playoff sprint through the Atlanta Falcons and San Francisco 49ers, turning millions across America into Cheesehead wannabes, are about to get run over.

In the commercial, Deion Sanders is asked whether he wants to play offense or defense and says, "Both," and if he wants $15 million or $20 million and says, "Both." So it was no wonder which end the game-tilting reverse to Sanders went around Sunday in the Dallas Cowboys' 30-11 playoff victory against Philadelphia at Texas Stadium: Both. But the Cowboys were full of double dangers Sunday in what coach Barry Switzer called their most complete win of the season: They got needed input from running back Emmitt Smith (99 yards rushing)